Nowadays, anybody arriving at terminal 3 of Beijing Capital Airport disembarks at one of the largest and most modern terminals in the world. Due to the immensity of the building, passengers are transported to their terminals with trains and there is a subway connection to the other terminals. The situation in Shanghai is slightly different. Here people are suspended above the city as they travel into Shanghai with an average speed of 430 km/h in the only open to the public, magnetically driven Maglev train in the world.  

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Most companies that need help sourcing from China prefer to work with someone they know or someone recommended by someone they know. If “Joe in accounting” has a cousin in China, then Joe’s cousin becomes the company’s starting point. When a company doesn’t know anyone in China, or know anyone who knows anyone in China, they often turn to the Internet. But by then they’re not searching for someone that can find the perfect supplier for their …

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For all of us (foreign) ‘locals’ in Beijing, we have seen the massive growth in foreign-owned restaurants over the past several years. Not only are such establishments popular (and very profitable), they are adding to the international cuisine and outlook of the nation’s capital. In this article, we outline the various procedures required to establish a restaurant …

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In western countries, many companies already see that offering comprehensive training programmes to their staff is an effective way of retaining their employees. In China, however, where staff retention is such a major issue, many companies attempt to keep staff by throwing more money at them when, in many cases, competitors match these packages, thereby creating only a short-term solution.

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Many entrepreneurs still consider China as the Shangri-la of infinite possibilities. The immense population and the annual ‘double-digit’ economic growth result in a projection of flashy Scrooge McDuck dollar signs in the eyes of numerous businessmen.

Of the ‘so-called’ 1,3 billion potential clients, an estimated 80% lives far away from the major cities with…

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